Transience

 

How swiftly the days pass

How swiftly the days pass! It makes us realise how short are the years we have left. Friends enjoy the cherry blossoms together on spring mornings and then they are gone, carried away like the blossoms by the winds of imperminence, leaving nothing but their names. Although the blossoms have scattered, the cherry trees will bloom again with the coming of spring, but when will those people be reborn? The companions with whom we composed poems, praising the moon on autumn evenings have vanished with the moon behind the shifting clouds. Only their mute images remain in our hearts. The moon has set behind the western mountains, yet we shall compose poetry under it again next autumn, but where are our companions that have passed away? Even when the approaching tiger of death roars, we do not hear, how many more days are left to the sheep bound for slaughter?

 

 Letter to niike 1280